Coming Under Fire

I walk into the house and drop my bag and jacket on the floor in the hallway. My dad is sleeping in his chair with the tv cranked and a newspaper in his lap, so I choose not to diaturb him and go straight to the kitchen. My mother is standing at the stove, stirring a pot of something that smells heavenly. I lean against the counter next to her and sniff the air.
"What is that smell?" I ask.
"Garlic bread in the oven, and Italian wedding soup."
"Who's getting married?" I joke. She gives me the tiniest hint of a smirk, before covering the pot.
"Its been awhile and I had everything for it, so I figured why not." She turns to me then and gives me a once over and her eyebrows shoot up and she drops her spoon on the counter.
"Oh my God, you're pregnant."
"What?! No!"
"You are, I can tell, you're gaining weight." I take a deep breath and do some math in my head.
"Definetly not pregnant. I've been under a lot of stress, eating bad foods, you know how it is." I say, looking over at the simmering soup.
"Have you taken a test?" She asks.
"No, because I'm not pregnant!"
"Who's pregnant?" Frank asks, walking into the kitchen.
"Your sister." Our mother says, opening the oven. Frank raises his eyebrows at me. I glare at him.
"I'm not pregnant, and you'd better not tell anyone that I am. The last thing I need is rumours spread about me, by my own mother.
"Of course, honey. Now, will you set the table please?" I look to Frank.
"Is it just you tonight?"
"Yeah, Sophie took the kids to her parents house for the weekend, so I'm a bachelor tonight." He says.
I gather up plates, napkins and and silverware and I move to the dining room, Frank follows me.
"You want me to do that? In your condition and all-"
"Oh, shut up." I mutter. He laughs.
"Do you think I've gained weight?" I ask.
"I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole. I've been married for twelve years for a reason." He says. I sigh.
"Its all the junk food. I need to start excersizing." I say, setting the last napkin down on the table.
"Starting tomorrow. I'm not going to sit next to you while you pick at your food all night."
"Sure."
"So, what did Dom have to say?" He asks.
"Not much, I took him to his apartment to get changed, then to go get his truck and I havent heard from him since."
"I'm kind of surprised he didnt come to dinner tonight." He remarks.
"He was talking about seeing Carmen."
"Ahh, missing old Jabberjaws, was he?"
"Did you know he's thinking about possibly settling down with her?" I ask.
"God help him... and us."
"What if they had kids?" I say.
"Jesus."
Our father comes bustling out to the dining room, stopping to look at us.
"Wheres dinner?"
"Almost done." I tell him.
"Good. What else is new?" Frank and I look at each other.
"I'm not pregnant." I say. He ponders this for a moment, then nods.
"Always gotta look on the bright side." I'm not really sure what that means, but I'm taking it as a positive.
My mother comes out with a pot of soup and Frank takes it from her and sets it on the table, the she comes out with a bread basket and a bottle of red wine.
"Lets eat."
After dinner, Frank and I take our doggie bags and slowly make our way out to our cars.
"So, you doin' okay? You need anything?" He asks.
"What I need is for all of this shit to be over."
"Yeah, well that may happen sooner rather than later."
"What does that mean?" I ask, suspicious.
"Just forget I said anything. I'll talk to you later." He leaves me standing on the sidewalk as he hoofs it to his suv and hops in. I blow out a sigh and get in my own car.
When I get home its dark, but the parking lot is lit by the big mercury light in the middle of the lot. I get out of my car and grab up my purse and doggy bag and make my way across the light. I hear a footstep and a dark shadow out of the corner of my eye. My heart stops when Robert Plumerri steps out in front of me. We stare at each other for a moment, not speaking.
"What are you doing here, Plumerri? The cops are looking for you." He laughs.
"Trust me, honey, I'm the last person the cops are looking for. In fact, I'm not even on their radar. Your boyfriend on the other hand..." He trails off.
"He's not here, and if you dont get out of here I'm calling the cops." I say.
"I don't think so. In fact, I think you're going to want to cooperate with me." He pulls a gun out of his back waistband and aims it at me. My mouth instantly goes dry and my heart starts beating rapidly. I really hate having a gun held on me.
"John doesnt have your money, the Irish does!" I say quickly. He looks at me with shock on his face.
"Say what?"
"Its true. A guy named Scott Leary joined Scully's team as a rat for the Irish. They are the ones who came in after the shooting and took the money." I ramble.
"You got proof?" I pause. Honestly, no. And I havent talked to John about Leary since we put the bug on him.
"Talk to Dominic. He knows all about it."
"Dominic is ratting for the Irish too?" He asks.
"No. But theres no denying that Dom knows what happens in this business." He nods his head thoughtfully.
"Call him. Get him over here."
I slowly reach into my purse and pull out my cell phone. My shaky hands find Doms number and I put the phone up to my ear, keeping my eyes on Plumerri.
Dom answers the phone sounding out of breath,
"Hello?"
"Where are you?" I ask.
"Carmen's." That explains the heavy breathing.
"Plumerri is here. He wants to talk to you."
"Here where?" He asks, suddenly serious and concerned.
"My apartment."
"Jesus, are you ok?"
"I'm fine, just get here... fast."
"I'm on my way. You tell Plumerri I'm gonna kill him." He hangs up.
"He's on his way." I tell Plumerri.
"Good."
We stand there for a minute in silence. I consider running to my car, but I know my own physical fitness better than that. I have my arms full, my keys are in
my purse. By the time I got turned around he would catch up with me, or shoot me.
We both look up when Dom's truck pulls in and his lights shine on us. He parks in front of us and gets out with his gun trained on Plumerri.
"What do you think you're doing Plumerri? Threatening my sister isnt smart."
"Save the dramatics, Dominic. Tell me about the Irish." Dom's eyes flash to me, then he nods his head for me to move behind him. I quickly scuttle over to him. His free hand falls to mine momentarily, as if making sure I'm behind him, his eyes never leaving Plumerri, who has now moved his aim to Dom.
"I'm waiting, Parelli."
"The Irish had a rat in Scully's operation. Leary. We're dealing with the problem. In the meantime, you need to leave our guys alone."
"Meaning Kristaldi." Plumerri says.
"Exactly. John is nothing to you anymore. I don't give a shit what you do with the Irish, start a damn war for all I care, but John's hands are clean."
"What about our men that he killed?"
"Fair game. They ambushed us. You and I both know the risks of that kind ofoperation. And in fairness, I killed a couple of them too."
"I'll consider your offer."
"Yeah, consider it real good, because if you don't stay away from John and my sister, you'll be in the same boat as Leary." Dom says.
"Fine, Dom. Have it your way. I'll check into your theory, but remember, if it gets back to me that you're playing me, it wont be good." Then he turns and walks out of the light. Dom grabs my arm and drags me into his truck, then gets in with me and drives across the lot, silently looking for Plumerri.
"You ok?" he asks as we pull out onto the street.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

He drives around the block, then pulls back into my lot. He puts the truck in park and looks over at me.

"You want to stay at home or you want to stay with me tonight?"

"I'm good. I'll just have you walk me up." He nods and we get out and walk across the lot into my building. Once I'm inside I feel much more secure. I can hear my neighbors tv's and smell their dinners cooking.

Dom waits as I unlock my door and then he enters first and does a quick walk through to make sure everything is cool. It's kind of unnerving that this has become a routine for me to have one of the men in my life check my apartment over at least once a week.

"You heard from John today?" he asks.

"I talked to him this afternoon."

"You might want to call him and see whats going on with Leary. He's been listening to him, right?"

"Yeah." I dial John's number and wait as it rings three times.

"Hello?" He answers.

"Hey, Dom's here. He wants to know what the deal is with Leary. Plumerri was here tonight and I kind of told him about the Irish having his bosses money." He's silent for a moment.

"Where is here?"

"My apartment."

"Plumerri was at your place again? Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Tell Dom to hold tight. I'll be there in a half hour. Make sure the building is secure in the meantime. I don't want to waltz in and find a bunch of people loitering in the halls to see me."

"You're not coming up the fire escape?" I ask.

"Hell no, I'm too old for that shit."